The Mountain Saying, Kill the King, Now the Girondins Had to Say, Hold On

The first big battle fought these lines was whether the king deserved a trial. The gerondins argued that some of trial was necessary, if for no other reason than to make it look like what we're up to is legally legit. Strictly speaking, you couldn't try a king - he had sovereign immunity and was thus sacred and inviolable. And even if you cleared those hurdles, who would even have jurisdiction? Who would prosecute or sit in judgment? To settle these questions, the convention appointed a lawyer from toulouse named jean baptiste male to chair a committee to investigate what procedures and rationals might guide the convention.